top of page
Tiana Speter
Aug 13, 2017

FEATURE ARTIST INTERVIEW: Taberah


Look out, the Artist Spotlight is turning 6 this month, and this time we're going south - yep, it's Tassie's turn in the spotlight, and representing the Apple Isle are rockin heavies Taberah.

TABERAH

When your band's tagline is 'World Heavy Music Champions', you'd better be able to back it up. Luckily for for Tasmania's metal rockers Taberah, their resume more than speaks for itself: from playing a pub gig at the age of 16 to being handpicked to open for Motörhead (by none other than legendary frontman Lemmy Kilmister), this energetic quartet have tirelessly toured, recorded and rocked out their heaving swagger for over a decade.

On paper, and indeed in their legacy, Taberah squarely fit the bill for textbook heavy metal - but behind their scorching riffs, ambitious theatrics and abundance of hair is an uncanny ability to weave in some classic rock and roll sensibilities and a few welcome lashings of irreverence.

If you are a fan of the likes of Iron Maiden, Queen, The Darkness, AC/DC, Metallica....well you get the idea, Taberah confidently balance thrashing and bashing with melodic know-how. And fresh off the release of their latest album 'Sinner's Lament' earlier this year, there's no doubt the Tassie boys will have more heavy delights up their sleeves...or sleeveless sleeves in the near future.

But in the meantime, frontman Jonathon Barwick took the reins to answer the important questions, Taberah-style.

  • BAND NAME: That one is easy - Taberah

  • HOMETOWN: Tasmania

  • MEMBERS: Jonathon Barwick: Guitar, vocals, announces the next song Tom Brockman: Plays drums, books the flights Myles Flood: Guitar, vocals, has big thumbs David Walsh: Bass, is always late

  • HOW DID YOU GUYS GET STARTED? Tom and I met in grade 8 woodwork when he broke my hat rack. Myles played in another band and they were better than us so I poached him to break them up Dave use to play in a super goth metal band so I rescued him and made him handsome

  • HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING TOGETHER? Our first pub show was May 15th, 2006 - so over 11 years. We've done a fair amount of shows then considering we're not the kind of band that can play every rural pub between Melbourne and Brisbane. We'll leave that for Nollzy.

  • INFLUENCES? Queen, The Darkness, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Thin Lizzy. Also video game soundtracks.

  • DESCRIBE YOUR BAND IN THREE WORDS: World's Greatest Band

  • WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE GIG? I remember them all! The best show we've ever played was at The Enmore with Nightwish - we were on that night. Not to mention we did nearly $3kin merch - are you listening, philanthropists? Back us.

  • FAVOURITE TABERAH SONG? My favourite song is Sinner's Lament - I'm quite fond of the middle section and its intergender vocal trade-off! Not to mention Myles laid down the greatest guitar solo of all time on it. I like how mine came out too.

  • WHAT ARE YOU GUYS CURRENTLY WORKING ON? ANYTHING NEW ON THE HORIZON? Currently writing the next thing. Not sure if it'll be an EP or blossom into a full album - that's up to the fates!

  • IF YOU WEREN'T PLAYING MUSIC, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU BE DOING? Learning how to play music!

  • IF TABERAH HAD TO BE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE OTHER ARTIST, WHO WOULD IT BE? Harlott. Purely because Tom Richards is quite tall and would be able to reach the best coconuts. Also Hudson provides me with the finest banter I know of!

  • PINEAPPLE ON A PIZZA, YES OR NO? Absolutely - jalapeno and pineapple go together like Scott Gorham and Gary Moore!

  • CATS OR DOGS? A cat named Graham who I share a love/hate relationship with - it'd just be top banter

  • WOULD TABERAH SURVIVE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE? Absolutely not. Tom only eats like 4 things so he'd starve. Dave needs 12 hours of sleep a day so that's when they'd get him. Myles might go ok because he could bash their heads in with his mighty thumbs. And I'd simply base all my survival tactics on Resident Evil 2 which didn't have a quick-turn mechanic so I'd be too slow.

  • AND FINALLY, WHAT'S THE GREATEST SONG OF ALL TIME? Ooooooooooh ya bastard. I'm going to go with 'Last Chance at Love' by Foxy Shazam!

Taberah's latest album 'Sinner's Lament' is out now, plus a whole lotta other songs kicking around in the usual places. For more info or to inquire about their personal hopes and dreams, hit up the below:

BY TIANA SPETER

bottom of page